


The Dice Giveth and the Dice Taketh Away

by Amber_Aglio



Series: Amber's Fair Game Week 2020 [7]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Awkward Flirting, Day 7: Free Day/AU, M/M, Slow Burn, fairgameweek2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23262973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amber_Aglio/pseuds/Amber_Aglio
Summary: The Branwen twins do not get along with the Atlesian military. Ozpin wants to do something about it - and what better way to bring everyone together than by hosting a DnD game?Written for Fair Game day 7: Free Day/AU
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: Amber's Fair Game Week 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665745
Comments: 19
Kudos: 48





	The Dice Giveth and the Dice Taketh Away

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so... technically, this uses not DnD rules, but Pathfinder (which was developed from DnD 3.5). It has a large variety of classes that I love, and hopefully I explained them satisfactory enough in the story. Still, feel free to drop any questions in the comments or on my [tumblr](https://amber-aglio.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> A huge thank you to [thedarkpoet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedarkpoet/pseuds/thedarkpoet) for being an amazing beta and helping Ozpin sound like himself.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character creation and first meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... grew so much from the tiny idea I originally had... If any of you have seen the snippets on my tumblr - well, you won't find them in this chapter, because they are from the very end of the story, and we have a looooong way to go yet. So - yeah. This probably works as a one-shot, but I'm planning to add more.

“Qrow, Raven.” Professor Ozpin greeted the two black birds who had just landed on his windowsill. “It’s good to see you both. Please, come sit.”

Two swift transformations later, the Branwen twins were standing on the carpet of the headmaster’s office. Raven tapped her foot on the floor impatiently.

“Cut the niceties. You called for us. Got a job?”

Ozpin sat down in his chair, folding his palms together.

“Something like that. There have been… complaints. After your last Atlas mission.”

Qrow huffed, “Oh, so the “good General” ran to you with his moaning? If Jimmy has a problem with the way we do things, he can shove it…” Ozpin’s stern gaze cut him off and he quickly lowered his hands from the air quotes.

“I am aware you and Ironwood have… very different approaches.” Ozpin started diplomatically. 

“Well that’s an understatement,” Raven scoffed. “Do you want the job done or not?”

Ozpin sighed. “Please at least let me finish? We’re all on the same side here. We need to learn to trust each other and to work together, for the good of all of Remnant.”

“Oh, so what? Should we go apologize to those stuffed-up pricks and bow down to the military scum? Not happening,” Raven sneered, crossing her arms.

“And I would never ask you to,” Ozpin reassured her. “Still, I feel that it’s essential to find some common ground, so I’m going to host a small… well, you could call it a teambuilding exercise.”

Raven stared at him for a long moment.

“Nope,” she swiftly turned to the exit and started walking away. Qrow raised and unimpressed eyebrow at Ozpin. An unvoiced,  _ “Seriously?” _ hung in the air.

“It’s a game,” Ozpin added nonchalantly just as Raven reached the door. She stopped on her tracks.

“Wait. So we get to beat the Atlesian pricks?” Qrow could feel his sister’s attitude make a full reversal. 

“Well… That’s not *quite* what I had in mind, but… Technically, yes, you could.” Ozpin conceded.

“Tell me more,” she demanded, eyes burning.

Qrow found it infinitely amusing how Ozpin looked somewhat intimidated in the face of her sudden enthusiasm. The headmaster pulled out two thick books and handed one to Raven. They looked identical, with a drawing of an icosahedron on the cover. There was a large 20 on the front facet of it.

“Here. These books contain the rules, and everything else you will need. Ironwood and someone from his side will be here in one month, so that’s the time you have to make your characters. Please, do not hesitate to ask me if there is anything unclear.” Ozpin took a deep breath, “I hope you take it seriously, it might be merely a game, but I think it could be greatly beneficial for all sides involved.” 

Qrow, in turn, thought that there is no way this is going to go well.

Raven, it would seem, was just ready to obliterate anything and everything.

***

They started reading the books as soon as they got back to their room at the inn. 

“So… there are different classes of characters and they all have different skills and abilities in and out of combat… Huh, there’s quite a lot to choose from. And Ozpin didn’t tell us much about what’s going to happen in the game…” Qrow rubbed his eyes and stared back at the lengthy chapter on combat mechanics. He probably hadn’t done this much reading since his training days at Beacon.

“Eh, just pick something that can bash everyone’s skulls in and you’ll be fine.” Raven echoed. She held a pencil in her mouth and was busy sorting through the torn-out pages with the class descriptions. She’d sorted them into two piles: “trash” and “smash”.

“There’s also magic,” Qrow noted. “That sounds cool. And you can’t just go at a magic-user with brute force.”

“You just need to hit hard enough.” Raven said dismissively, peering at yet another piece of paper. She chewed on her pencil and tossed the description in the discard pile with disdain. “Squishy,” she grumbled under her breath.

“What if they can fly?” Qrow countered. That made Raven pause.

“Fine, then I will be a magic-using smasher.” She dropped a whole stack of papers in the trash pile, “Ugh, those are all boring.”

“I don’t think that’s a thing,” Qrow muttered as he picked one of the abandoned classes and read through it. Huh. Bombs. That sounded fun.

When he didn’t hear anything in reply, he looked up to find his sister reading through something with alarming intensity. Her lips slowly curled up into a triumphant smile.

“Oh, I think there is, Qrow. I just hit the jackpot.”

***

It took several hours for Raven to stop bragging about how cool her bloodrager was. And really, it was your typical barbarian, just with a bit of magic. Not that Qrow would tell his sister she was playing a barbarian. He valued his life.

Either way, she left Qrow alone with his own decision. The alchemist he looked at earlier seemed fun and great for burning things, but Qrow wanted something… different. More hands-on. More skilled, to balance the raw power of his sister, but still self-sufficient and combat-ready. In case… well, just in case.

And he tried not to forget that it was a team-building exercise. As much as he didn’t want to, he’d probably have to work with Jimmy and whoever the General was bringing with him. He had to have something to offer to the team.

Rogues had the most skills, but Qrow wanted to follow his own advice about magic. Turning into a bird was… useful. Maybe he could find a way to grow wings? Now that was something alchemists could also do…

In the end, he settled on middle ground. An investigator had plenty of skills, used magic in the form of alchemy and could be a great combatant if done right. Maybe not as powerful as Raven’s bloodrager, but more than enough to hold his own. And he could share the extracts he created with other people, so his magic would be useful to the team, too.

...wait, was he supposed to pick a name for this guy?

***

In the end, the most difficult part of creating a character for Ozpin’s game was coming up with a name and backstory. He ended up going with something simple and rather close to his real character and history for fear of not being able to roleplay it correctly. Still, it ended up being a fun distraction from work and a refreshing topic of conversation with Raven. As much as she looked down on his choice of class, she ended up admitting after a few friendly duels that he wasn’t as squishy as she’d thought at first. It also helped them understand the combat mechanics better, which, Raven insisted, would give them an edge over the Atlesians.

Eventually, the fateful day arrived. Qrow and Raven were sitting in Ozpin's office as they waited for the Atlesians to arrive.

"Who do you think they’ll play as?" Raven asked, her leg bouncing in slightly murderous excitement.

"Eh, does it matter?" Qrow just wanted to get started already. Weren't perfect military specialists supposed to be punctual?

"Of course it matters! We need to show them who's the boss, got it? This game is going to be on  _ our _ terms." Raven grinned, petting her character sheet lovingly.

Qrow was pretty sure it was Ozpin who would be setting the terms of the game, but again, he just stayed silent. They would find out soon enough.

Finally, the doors of the office opened and General Ironwood walked in, followed by a man Qrow vaguely remembered seeing once or twice in Atlas.

Well... at least the view would be undoubtedly nice. This man apparently didn't believe in sleeves - and for good reason. Both Qrow and Raven took a moment to appreciate his exposed biceps before Raven shrugged, feigning nonchalance, and whispered, "He's not too bad for a soldier. Bet that will change once he opens his mouth."

"Oz, sorry we're late." Ironwood said. "Raven, Qrow... Uh, it's good to see you both in a more... informal setting."

"It is fine, we haven't been waiting long," Ozpin smiled, even as Raven scoffed and muttered, "Speak for yourself."

"And this, I take it, is the trusted Specialist you told me about?" Ozpin chose to ignore Raven's remark.

"Yes, this is Clover Ebi, the captain of my Ace Operatives."

Clover saluted and Ozpin chuckled, "At ease. No need for formalities here. So, shall we begin, since we are all finally here? Let's not waste any time."

They took their seats at the round table. For a few long minutes they watched as Ozpin set up a cardboard screen to cover up whatever he was doing and placed a small bucket with various dice on the table. 

“You may select the ones you like best, and then we can begin.”

Raven was the first to move, snatching the entire bucket and choosing the dice she liked best. It was a black-and-red set, which Qrow probably would have claimed for himself if Raven hadn’t been faster. Once she passed him the dice, he chose instead a simple black set with silver numbers that reminded him of Summer’s eyes.

Maybe that would be his lucky set, who knew?

Ironwood chose probably the most boring dice set in the entire bucket - bright red with white numbers. Ozpin muttered something about classics, but Qrow found them simply dull.

The mysterious Clover chose a forest green set and set the bucket back in front of Ozpin. Qrow noticed that the color matched the four-leaf clover pin on the man’s lapel and suppressed the urge to snort.

Was this some sort of silly scheme to protect against Qrow’s bad luck?

Ozpin cleared his throat and took the dice back.

“So, as you all already know, we will be roleplaying a small adventure here. You all have your characters prepared, would you like to introduce them out of character, or should we just start with the game?”

“Just start already!” Raven was weighing a twenty-sided die on her palm. “I want to kill someone.”

“Right, well, I just want to remind you that you shouldn’t use your semblances as we play. This is a chance-dependent game, and sabotage or conscious unfair play will not be tolerated.” Ozpin looked at Qrow, who shrugged, and for some reason, at Clover. The Specialist was all seriousness and attention, nodding his understanding.

Huh. What sort of semblance did the guy have?..

“Very well.” Ozpin didn’t wait for Qrow to figure it out. “Then…”

*** 

_ In a faraway land, a long time ago when magic was real… A certain king was assembling a team of heroes to help him fight an evil witch. _

“Wait.” Raven interrupted. “Is that king a self-insert? Because that sounds awfully like a self-insert.”

Ironwood glared at her, “Let him finish, Raven.”

She huffed, but leaned back in her chair and gestured for Ozpin to go on.

“Look, I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare an adventure, I do have a school to run. Please bear with me.” He only looked mildly embarrassed.

_ Several heroes answered his call. They all had different goals - some wanted the hefty reward that the king promised, some wanted recognition and glory, some wanted to battle evil and some wanted to protect the people. At last, the king chose four people he found strong enough to take on his quest. _

“This is when you get the chance to introduce yourselves and chat a bit. Please, describe what others will see.”

Raven leaned even further back and gestured at herself, like it should have been obvious. “Duh? Oh, and a big sword. And the name’s Sigrid.”

Ozpin cleared his throat and asked, rather pointlessly in Qrow’s opinion, “So… a skirt and no armor?”

Raven didn’t deign to answer, electing to simply roll her eyes. Ozpin turned a pleading gaze on Qrow and Qrow realized that Raven had just stolen his easy way out.

“Uh… Okay, so… Like, black hair? Um, wearing black leather armor and a black cloak.” Eye color, what’s a normal eye color? Four pairs of differntly-colored eyes watched him, not giving much room for thought. “Uh, teal eyes, pale skin, sharp features…”

Qrow refused to look at his sister, who almost choked on air when he mentioned teal. “And eyeliner,” she suddenly added.

“Raven!” Qrow hissed, trying to kick her under the table. Judging by Ironwood’s pained expression, he’d missed.

“What? If you’re going full goth, you’re going full goth.”

Qrow sighed. “Okay, fine, whatever! His name is Corbin. You’re next, Jimmy.”

To Qrow’s mounting horror, Ironwood cleared his throat and took a print-out from a folder with an Atlas symbol on it.

“So, you see a valiant-looking knight in a shining breastplate…”

“What, no full plate armor?” Qrow cut him off. 

Ironwood glared at him, unhappy with the interruption. “Do you have any idea how much a full plate costs?” When Qrow just shrugged in response, he sighed and continued with the description.

“...in a breastplate with the symbol of God of Light on it. He’s also carrying a greatsword on his back…”

“Ew.” This time it was Raven who interrupted. “He’s a paladin, I’m calling it. All fanatically holier-than-thou.”

Ironwood threw his hands up in frustration and dropped his print-out on the table. “This is pointless, I don’t know why I even decided to spend so much effort on this. Figures you wouldn’t appreciate it. His name is Viktor, by the way.”

Raven snorted, “Well, looks like you’ve made a character who’s just as brainless as you are.”

Qrow gently put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Rae,” he said with as much kindness as he could muster, “You’re really not in the position to talk.”

She looked down at the negative intelligence score on her sheet, then back at Ironwood.

“Okaaaay,” she exclaimed loudly. “Plant boy, what do you have for us?”

Clover seemed a little overwhelmed by the intensity of their rivalry. If the guy hadn’t been Atlesian, Qrow would have felt bad for him - dealing both with Raven and Ironwood during one of their spats was a taxing experience. Still, Clover smiled and tossed a small sketch onto the table.

“Herbert,” he said simply. The picture showed a friendly-looking man in metal armor, holding a spear. “Oh, and he has the symbol of God of Light as a pin on his cloak.”

“Short and sweet,” Raven seemed impressed. “Okay, so we’ve made the introductions, what next?”

Ozpin hesitated. “Would you like to get to know each other better?”

“Oh!” Raven brightened up a bit and turned to Ironwood. “Sure. Come on, big guy. Let’s take this outside.”

Ironwood frowned, “I’m sorry?”

Raven rose impatiently from her seat. “I enter rage and glare at him. Let’s fight, damn it!”

Ironwood looked at Ozpin who shrugged helplessly. “If it’s non-lethal damage, I don’t see how it could hurt…”

“YES!” Raven’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Let’s figure out which of us is the better fighter.”

Qrow watched, torn between amusement and exasperation, as the two of them decided to go out into the courtyard and rolled for initiative. A scrape of chair made him look away from the sight of his sister and General Ironwood screaming at the dice to  _ roll better _ . Clover moved closer to him around the table and whispered, “Hey, should we… stop them?”

Qrow chuckled and shook his head, whispering right back, “Let them get it out of their systems. Unless you want to join in, of course.”

Clover sighed, “No, Herbert’s a cleric. The spear is more for show or small enemies than anything. I just… heal and buff, stuff like that.”

Qrow nodded and for a while they both continued to watch in silence. Raven finally landed a hit on Ironwood and knocked him unconscious. She threw her fist into the air triumphantly, turning to Qrow and frowning at seeing him leaning against Clover’s side. Qrow coughed, embarrassed, and quickly straightened up. He saw a similar exchange between Clover and Ironwood and mentally kicked himself. Right. No fraternizing with the enemy.

Ozpin took a sip from his mug and casually asked, “By the way, Raven, if the way from the throne room to the courtyard took, say… Four rounds… how many rounds of rage do you have left?”

Raven looked down at her character sheet. Her eyes grew round and she snapped a panicked gaze at Ozpin, “Oh, um. None?”

“Then,” Ozpin continued calmly, “Once you lose the bonus hit points from your rage, how much do you have left?”

“...negative two?” Raven mumbled. Ironwood laughed and she gave him a dirty look, “Shut up, you’re unconscious!”

“So are you,” Ironwood pointed out with a snicker.

Qrow fought a similar reaction, “So let me get it straight, your little duel ended with you both dropping dead out in the courtyard?”

Raven and Ironwood both looked sheepish. Qrow put his face in his hands. “I refuse to waste healing potions on your stupidity.”

To his left, Clover coughed delicately, “I could probably help with that. Um, so, Herbert comes over to the two of them… Actually no, I’ll keep my distance, I’ve seen what they are capable of. Herbert stops about thirty feet away from the two lifeless bodies, flicks the pin on his cloak and a healing wave washes over everyone within thirty feet of him.”

He dropped a die on the table. “You both heal six hit points.”

Ozpin smiled, “Well, now that we’ve figured that out. Should we get to the adventure already?”

***

After the initial confrontation, the rest of the session went smoothly. Both Raven and Ironwood looked embarrassed enough by the results of their duel that they didn’t stir up any more trouble. They even got to fight some actual enemies - a group of bandits - and both Raven and Ironwood had to admit their respective characters were good fighters and useful assets. Qrow remained the go-to man for any skill checks, impressing the rest of the party with Corbin’s knowledge and ability to gather information. Clover seemed content to just heal whoever needed healing and sometimes offer buffs to the rest of the party. 

Qrow had to admit it was… fun.

But the evening came too soon, and Ozpin announced that it was time for them to pause the game.

“I’m not sure when we will get the next chance to meet up, but I would like to continue this. You are, of course, free to contact each other if you want to act out some interactions before then, but the actual plot will start moving forward once we arrange the next session.” Ozpin sent them yet another enigmatic smile. “For now, James, could I talk to you for a moment?”

Raven stretched and turned to Qrow, “You coming back to the inn?”

He shook his head, “I think I need a drink after all that.” Raven huffed, but wasted no time on disappearing. 

Qrow was about to follow when Clover’s voice stopped him, “Hey! Wait, hold on a moment.” 

Qrow turned to him, mildly irritated by the unexpected interruption. The game was over, what more could there be? “What do you want now?”

Clover’s smile dimmed a bit at the hostile tone, but he still continued, “Could I have your scroll number? Uh, today, we didn’t… I mean, our characters didn’t get much chance to get to know each other… So I thought, maybe we could do some conversations by text while we wait for the next meeting? Just an idea.”

Clover’s fingers nervously fiddled with the pin on his lapel. He took a deep breath and hid both hands behind his back as soon as he noticed Qrow looking.

Huh, weird, that he would be nervous. Though Qrow couldn’t deny he looked cute with this uncertain expression.

“Sure.” Qrow motioned for Clover to hand him his scroll and quickly added his contacts. “I might be out of range sometimes, so no hard feelings if I don’t answer right away, yeah?”

Clover nodded with so much enthusiasm that Qrow feared his head would fall off. “It’s no problem. Uh, I’ll text you, then.” 

“Sure,” Qrow chuckled. Clover turned to look at General Ironwood still talking to Ozpin in hushed voices. It didn’t look like they would be done anytime soon. “So, uh, how did you end up stuck in this team-building exercise? I get that we didn’t get along with Jimmy, but I barely even remember you. No offence.”

Clover beamed at him, grabbing the conversation topic like a lifeline. “Oh, yeah. Apparently a party of four people works better than three? And Professor Ozpin thought it would be fair if there were two of you and two of us. So… General Ironwood decided I would be a good pick. Guess I got lucky.”

“Lucky?” Qrow frowned and headed out of the door. “You’re telling me he ordered you to take part in this and you still think you’re lucky?”

Clover just shrugged, following. “I’d say it turned out okay.”

Qrow levelled him with an unimpressed look. “You’ve been stuck and those two bickering for  _ hours _ .”

“Not just them,” argued Clover. “You were there, too, that made up for a lot of things.”

Qrow huffed. He had to admit - without Clover there the whole thing could have been much more tedious, but Qrow himself barely even did anything, preferring to sit and watch unless his help was directly needed. “Do you want something? Because it looks awfully like you’re trying to get in my good books for whatever reason. Shouldn’t it be the other way around, with you being the healer who everyone wants in their corner?”

Clover looked down, letting out a small laugh, “Well, you’re not starting unnecessary drama, so you’re already on my good side.”

Qrow couldn’t hide his amusement at that, “Oh, are you saying that Jimmy starts drama? Doesn’t that count as insubordination?” 

Clover clapped a hand over his mouth, “You won’t tell him, will you?” That only made Qrow laugh harder. “Stop it, I’m serious, I only got promoted recently, I don’t want to get booted back down to private over some game.”

“Okay, okay, I promise.” Qrow had to admit, Clover was a lot less stiff than he expected someone hand-picked by Ironwood to be. “Still, my question stands. What do you want?”

“Oh, um, I just want to know you better, I guess? Your sister was pretty vocal, and I obviously know the General, but I would like to hear something about you, too.” Clover looked at him with earnest teal eyes and Qrow found himself slightly confused.

“You mean, get to know Corbin better?”

Clover looked stunned for a short moment, but it was gone so quickly that Qrow decided it had just been his imagination. “Yeah, yeah, of course, that’s what I meant! And maybe you could offer your opinion on some of the rules? We could figure out better ways to coordinate our spells or something.” Clover said quickly. “So… is that okay?”

Qrow thought for a moment. All things considered, there were much worse people to talk to and worse topics to discuss.

“Sure, why not. Ask away.”

In the end, he never made it to the bar that night. He did, however, end up having coffee with Clover in some quaint little cafe not far from the academy.

Soon after they said their goodbyes and Qrow returned to his room at the inn, his scroll dinged with a message.

**From: Unknown.** Hey! Just wanted to say good night.

Qrow huffed and suppressed a smile. Luckily, Raven wasn’t there to tease him, so he quickly saved the new contact, typed up an answer and dropped his scroll on the bedside table before flopping down onto the bed. It had been… a good day, all things considered.

**To: Lucky Charm.** Night.


End file.
